WATCH ABOVE: Hundreds of west end students and parents are preaching the message of safety and pleading with drivers to slow down. Fletcher Kent reports.
EDMONTON — Speeding has become such a problem outside two west Edmonton schools, that they held rallies Monday morning to urge drivers to slow down in their school zones.
Grade 5 and 6 students at Sister Annata Brockman Catholic School and Bessie Nichols Public School staged the event during the morning school drop off time in support of Edmonton’s 30 km/h school zones.
The city says 14 per cent of the vehicles monitored travelling through Edmonton school zones have been exceeding the speed limit. The situation is much worse around the two Hamptons-area schools, where the rate is at 21 per cent.
READ MORE: 949 school zone speed violations in Edmonton last week
The issue has become so bad at Bessie Nichols, that the school no longer has crossing patrols because it’s been deemed too dangerous.
“There have been a number of close calls and in fact I just heard this morning of a lady that was driving close to the four way stop, texting, and ended up on the curb,” says Patricia Martyn, Bessie Nichols Public School principal.
Traffic safety has been an issue at Bessie Nichols school since it opened three years ago, according to Martyn. The school has met with the City, the provincial government and the Alberta Motor Association to discuss the issue.
“In the end it boils down to driver behaviour. We just need people to slow down,” Martyn advices.
READ MORE: No more warnings; Edmonton school zone speeders begin receiving tickets
A total of 17, 056 speed violations have been recorded across the city in the six months since the new speed limit was implemented, with some vehicles being caught travelling 57 km/h over the limit, according to the City of Edmonton.
“Unfortunately drivers are not getting the message. Everyone is busy and every one is distracted, life is busy, but people, we have to slow down. These are our children that we’re talking about,” says councillor Michael Oshry.
READ MORE: New school zone speed limit could save lives: Edmonton Traffic Safety
Councillor Bev Esslinger says if drivers slow down, more kids will begin walking to school, which will reduce traffic congestion in school zones.
“It is inconvenience sometimes for us to take that few minutes to slow down and go through our destination, but the inconvenience is worth it if it means saving someone lives, even just one life.”
The 30 km/h speed limit came into effect in Edmonton’s elementary school zones on Sept. 2, 2014.
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